UPLAND SHOOTING. 83 



sons at four weeks, when the eggs were placed under the 

 domestic Hen. The young leave the nest as soon as they are 

 freed from the shell, and are conducted about in search of food 

 by the female ; are guided by her voice, Avhich, at that time, 

 resembles the twittering of young chickens, and sheltered by 

 her wings in the same manner as the domestic fowl, but with 

 all that secrecy and precaution for their safety which their 

 helplessness and greater danger require. In this situation, 

 should the little timid fiimily be unexpectedly surprised, the 

 utmost alarm and consternation prevails. The mother throws 

 herself in the path, fluttering along and beating the ground with 

 her wings, as if sorely wounded, using every artifice she is master 

 of to entice the passenger in pursuit of herself, uttering at the 

 same time certain peculiar notes of alarm, well understood by 

 the young, who dive separately amongst the grass, and secrete 

 themselves until the danger is over, and the parent, having 

 decoyed the pursuer to a safe distance, returns by a circuitous 

 route to collect and lead them off. This well known manoeuvre, 

 which nine times in ten is successful, is honorable to the feel- 

 ings and judgment of the bird, but a severe satire on man. 

 The affectionate mother, as if sensible of the avaricious 

 cruelty of his nature, tempts him with a larger prize to save 

 her more helpless offspring, and pays him as avarice and cruelty 

 ought always to be paid, with mortification and disappointment. 

 " The eggs of the Quail have been frequently placed under 

 the domestic Hen, and hatched and reared with equal success 

 as her own, though generally speaking, the young Partridges, 

 being more restless and vagrant, often lose themselves and 

 disappear. The Hen ought to be a particular good nurse, not 

 at all disposed to ramble, in which case they are very easily 

 raised. Those that survive acquire all the familiarity of com- 

 mon Chickens, and there is little doubt that if proper measures 

 were taken and persevered in for a few years, they might be 

 completely domesticated. They have been often kept during 

 the first season and through the Avhole of that winter, but have 

 uniformly deserted in the spring. Two young Partridges that 



